Just in: France won’t reopen theatres
mainPrime minister Jean Castex said tonight: ‘We are not yet at the end of this second wave, and we will not reach the objectives we had set for 15 December. We have to stay focussed, and find our way through the next few weeks with plenty of vigilance.’
No new date has been given for reopening.
When this is all over, we will see that the closings had no effect on the spread of the virus, and that we will have destroyed the world’s economies and its cultural institutions for nothing.
They actually mentioned January 7th for reopening theatres, cinemas, museums, sports centres. This is the schedule with which the main institutions are adapting to.
Considering that several European governments have been suggesting that severe restrictions must continue until March (at the very least), gives me little hope that France will return to normal then.
“No new date has been given for reopening” but it has also been said that what happens next for culture in France will be announced on the 7th of January
The German, Austrian and Spanish experience with concert safeguards seems to have been effective, so why haven’t the other EU nations been quick to pick up the practice? And why has the province of Saxony shut the halls? It’s genuinely confusing.
One could almost think they don’t know what they’re doing.
It needs a huge labour force and a willingness of people to work in such an environment before you can bring in performers and a willing audience. You can’t just open the doors, pray and then hope.